Fall is around the corner, which brings the beginning of autumn festivities and holiday-themed treatments! It's an ideal time to cocktail our products to drive those results and maximize a product’s efficacy.

Fall requires a transition in your skincare selection to accommodate the drier and colder weather. Choose products that focus on hydrating, exfoliating and brightening for every type of treatment you offer clients and for yourself. 

Cocktails to try this FALL

Lips

Peptide Micro Scrub + CBD Hydratherapy Masque + Hydrating Lip Balm

This lip cocktail works wonders to exfoliate and hydrate the lips. Massage a pea-size Micro Scrub onto the lips for 1 – 2 minutes. Remove with a warm towel. Apply a pea-sized amount of the masque, let it sit for 5 – 10 minutes, then remove with a warm wet towel. Finish with the Hydrating Lip Balm and re-apply as needed.

Lip Enhancer + Cellulite Corrector Cream

Amazing combination for a temporary lip plump. Apply and mix equal parts of each. Be sure to stay inside the vermillion border to avoid redness outside the lip line due to vasodilation. Follow with Sonophoresis or Microamp on your DermaSound^™ Ultra for an extra boost!

Face

CBD Hydratherapy Masque + Hydrating Masque

This ultimate hydration masque combination feels like luxury on your skin. The CBD Hydratherapy Masque brings increased hydration, reduces inflammation, plumps and smooths the skin, while the Hydrating Masque will help to exfoliate, detoxify, energize, and moisturize dry, dehydrated skin. Combine at a 1:1 ratio.

Ultra Hydro Gel + Professional Oxygen Booster

Boost hydration and help reverse dull, tired skin. Mix equal parts with a fan brush. Apply to face, neck and décolleté and allow to sit for five minutes. Gently massage excess into the skin.

Oxygen Deep Pore Masque + Professional Tightening Protein Booster

Tighten, brighten and lighten the skin with this duo! Apply ½ teaspoon with 3 – 4 pumps of the oxygen deep pore cleanser. Make sure the brush is wet, and mix the two. Leave on the skin for 10 – 15 minutes and remove with warm towels.

Accelerator Gel + Diamond Bright Skin Illuminator

Lighten and brighten stubborn pigment! Mix equal parts and apply to the skin. Follow with your favorite moisturizer. Best if used at night due to sun sensitivity.

Essential Serum + Daily Skin Clarifier + Restoring Fulvic Elixir

This antioxidant-packed trio helps fight free radical damage, promote healing, increase hydration, reduce inflammation, and provide antibacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral properties. Mix equal parts of these serums and apply them to the face at the same time. Follow with your favorite moisturizer.

Hydrating Masque + Professional Exfoliator with 30% and 50% Lactic Acid

Enzyme exfoliation from the Hydrating Masque combined with the Professional Exfoliator with 30% or 50% Lactic Acid delivers amazing lightning, brightening, and moisturizing properties. Mix equal parts and leave on for 5 – 15 minutes. Remove with warm towels.

Body

Cellulite Corrector Cream + Anti-Aging Exfoliant Masque

Great for anywhere you are trying to target cellulite. Mix equal parts and exfoliate into the skin for 3 – 5 minutes. Leave on the skin for an additional 10 minutes. Remove with a warm towel. We especially love this for a booty treatment!

Professional 5 Berry Solution + Hydrating Hand & Body Lotion

This duo is targeted to lighten, brighten, and tighten the skin. Mix one part of the body lotion with ½ part of the peel. Leave on the skin for 3 – 5 minutes to neutralize. This cocktail can be used as a facial treatment by substituting the lotion with your favorite moisturizer! We love the comfort cream for the face.

These cocktails are safe for all Fitzpatrick Skin Types!

GlyMed Plus products cocktail options are endless and this is only a sampling of what you can do. There are a few ways you can look out for new ones, follow our social media, chat with other GlyMed estheticians or reach out to your Account Manager for more!

The Power of Touch

As an esthetician, touch is an integral part of what we do in the treatment room. It is a way to help your client to relax while you are caring for their skin. It is a way to heal, treat, and relax your client’s skin in its most basic sense. While this is a big part of the healing process, what you do in the treatment room goes beyond what can be seen physically. The face is connected with the body through pressure points that correspond with vital organs and body systems. Touch can also release immune-boosting chemicals known as endorphins into the body, which can help your client unwind and relieve stress on a mind and body level. 

In this article, we will discuss ways you can utilize the power of touch in your treatments. These healing forms all focus on things such as de-puffing, smoothing, etc. You could use all or a combination of these options; it may just be your personal preference.

One thing to keep in mind with these is it does include lymph drainage, so ensuring proper technique and pressure is vital for the health of your clients and or your skin if you perform it on yourself. Excellent prep for these treatments could include dry brushing. 

Lymphatic Drainage

Lymph drainage massage can first and foremost be done with your hands to stimulate it. The lymph nodes do not have a system to push lymph around, so the lymphatic system relies primarily on our body’s muscle action and movement to maintain its fluid movement. Lymph drainage massage is a manual massage technique that works on the lymphatic system, stimulating it to work quietly by moving the lymph to the lymph nodes. 

Benefits of Lymphatic Drainage

• Stimulates blood circulation and tissue regeneration
• Directs and increases lymphatic flow
• Reduces swelling and water retention
• Improves the immune system due to the elimination of toxins
• Promotes body and mental relaxation
• Energizes the body, and provides an overall lightness in the body

Gua Sha

Gua Sha is traditionally performed on the body, but a more gentle form can be utilized on the face. It’s performed with a stone that is shaped to contour the face in different ways. It can release built-up tension to help your skin perform essential functions such as eliminating waste and detoxifying, allowing the skin to come back to its more natural, healthy, balanced state. 

Benefits of Gua Sha

• Stimulates circulation
• Helps improve collagen
• Softens lines and wrinkles
• Decreases puffiness and inflammation
• Diminishes dark circles
• Temporarily tightens skin
• Brightens complexion
• Sculpts facial muscles
• Releases tightness

Jade Rolling

Jade rolling is similar in a sense to Gua Sha, just with a different type of tool. While the Gua Sha is a handheld stone, Jade Rolling is a handheld stone that typically has two-sized tips for rolling on the face. They come in various stones from rose quartz, jade, black obsidian, and many more.

Benefits of Jade Rolling

• Lymphatic drainage
• Improved circulation
• Better product absorption
• Tighter looking skin

Tips and Tricks to maintain that glow!

If you’re anything like me, you may be disappointed to see our warm sunny months come to an end. With the changes in seasons, we need to make some adjustments to our home care regimens to accommodate the cold weather's effect on our skin. 

I am just going to address the elephant in the room that fall and winter weather leaves our skin drier than an overcooked cake. I don’t know about you, but I like my skin and my cakes the same: moist. This time of year is ideal for bumping up those moisturizers for a formula that’s slightly richer to combat the dry air and harsh winds we tend to experience during these months. We must maintain the integrity of the skin’s natural barrier against the outside world during this time. We can accomplish this by using a moisturizer packed with ceramides and lipids, as this helps to lock moisture in the skin. 

Just as our skin needs ceramides and lipids, it also needs hydration. Oil and water help to make up our skin barrier, so it only makes sense to make sure we supply the skin with plenty of each. We can boost the hydration in our skin through products like skin mists, serums, and hydrating masques! I love to look for ingredients like hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, and glycerine to contribute and maintain hydration in the epidermis. 

To achieve the best penetration of products that support your barrier, one must keep their skin exfoliated. That’s right; this is a year-round gig. Your products will have much more success penetrating further into the epidermis if they don’t have to make their way through any dead skin cell build-up. Exfoliating the skin is going to ensure that during these months when our skin tends to be drier, ingredients that provide moisture and hydration combat this issue with ease. Consider a gentler exfoliant such as enzymes if your skin tends to be more sensitive in the fall and winter months.

There are many things we should be doing for our skin daily; applying and reapplying sunscreen is the most important. Did you know that UV rays can penetrate through clouds and even reflect off surfaces and snow? That means when you are out building a snowman, snowboarding, or even driving on a cloudy day, you absolutely should be wearing and reapplying SPF! Sunscreen is an essential commitment to maintaining the health of our skin.

Our number one goal when caring for our skin is to maintain its health. We are all unique, and with that comes individual skin care journeys and goals. We each have our own set of circumstances, ranging from skin types, lifestyles, environmental factors, and so much more. If you are unsure what products and ingredients your skin could benefit from as the seasons change wherever you are located in the world, please reach out to your skin care professional for further guidance.

Real skin is beautiful

Every person’s skin will have varying degrees of acne, texture, discoloration, and scars; it is just part of being human. Your skin is how you can regulate heat, protect from dehydration and infection, and respond to temperature, pressure, and pain, to name a few. Your skin is constantly working and doing all it can to keep you protected. With that in mind, as humans, we need to be kind to ourselves and know that what is advertised is not always portrayed as “normal” and can be very unrealistic if not unattainable standards to meet. 

Natural skin is “normal,” and all that exists in its natural state before makeup, filters, and products. This is what makes us beautiful and human. When we are constantly bombarded with what we are told we “should” look like, it will affect our view of ourselves and how we think others view us. It can cause extensive effects on our mental health and well-being. Our world seems to revolve around this idea of perfection being labeled as “normal” when it is typically photoshopped—utilized through company branding, advertisements, social media, tv, and movies. The campaigns, social media, and everything in between need to show what real skin looks like to undo the conditioning that having anything other than clear skin is not okay. 

What can we do?

We, as estheticians, must work to help normalize the conversation around this. We need to talk about skin texture, acne, pores, rosacea, vitiligo and much more. This is normal, and it is absolutely nothing to be embarrassed by. The skin is the largest organ and is not one size fits all! Our industry and our world could do a better job setting the tone and helping every individual feel comfortable in the skin they are in. Minor changes are being made to show this, but there is still a lot of work to continue bringing positivity to this topic.

It is important to note that every person should feel free to be confident and comfortable in their skin no matter where they are at in their journey. It is okay to have goals you want to accomplish with your skin but still feel beautiful regardless of where you are at the moment.

Our feet go through a lot as they carry us through our day-to-day activities, but what are we doing to maintain their health along the journey?

You will never regret washing your face

Everyone loves traveling. Traveling gets portrayed in the media as glamorous and decadent, an escape from the daily grind. While that's true, it can be very taxing on you physically and mentally. Prepping correctly for travel will ensure that you are prepared to feel your best self and enjoy your trip. 

As estheticians, we spend our time caring for various skin concerns our clients come to us with, and one of the many ways we treat these concerns is through the use of chemical peels and chemical exfoliants. When undergoing these treatments with our clients, it is crucial that we take the proper steps to ensure they get the best results possible and maintain the integrity of their skin in the process. 

Why are antioxidants important?

Antioxidants have many different uses and are an essential part of your nutrition, body and skin health.